Needless to say, his passing leaves the world no poorer. Rest in pieces.

UPDATE: I’ve been told Maj. Gen. Caldwell just announced that after Zarqawi’s death was confirmed, US and Iraqi forces raided 17 sites which had been under surveilance, resulting in an intelligence ‘treasure trove.’ Smash confirms; I’m assuming he saw the statement on TV. I’ll put up a link when one’s available.

Caldwell said they had been focusing on al-Rahman for about a month-and-a-half.

Once they confirmed al-Zarqawi’s death, coalition forces launched 17 simultaneous raids in and around Baghdad.

Caldwell said the coalition identified the targets during the search, but did not raid them sooner because they were focused on al-Zarqawi.

“In those 17 raids last night, a tremendous amount of information and intelligence was collected and is presently being exploited and utilized for further use,” he said. “I mean, it was a treasure trove; no question.”

As far as the situation on the ground is concerned, these raids might be a bigger deal in the long term than planting the Z-Man. The coalition forces should now have a blueprint, complete with names and addresses, of the entire al-Qaeda operation in Iraq and possibly elsewhere.

Every now and then our military manages to drag itself up from this unwinnable quagmire to f someone up spectacularly. Any time I see the grainy green video (aside from Paris Hilton’s internet exploits) on Fox News, I know we gave somebody the business. The shocking part is that Z’s body didn’t totally disintegrate when the bombs hit.

The 17 raids were perhaps not undertaken before this for fear we’d tip our hand to Zarqawi. Every mid-level Al-Quaida operations man has got to be wondering if this means that he is compromised, and his underlings have got to be thinking about that as well. This could be a very good intelligence haul indeed.
I suspect our friends on the left will tie themselves in knots trying to explain how it’s wonderful news that this terrorist SOB is dead, but that his death contributes nothing, nothing at all, towards defeating the insurgency, which will inevitable succeed because of the BUSH LIES &tc.

Honestly, I think the take from those raids, plus what ever is recovered from AMZ’s not-so-safe house will be of even more lasting significance than his actual death. And contrary to many people’s view that AMZ was unimportant and his death doesn’t change anything, I couldn’t disagree more. He was the guy who brought the money into the cause, and was a master at media manipulation. His loss is a big, big blow. It’ll be awhile before we know what was taken in those raids, but I’m willing to specuate that the foriegn terrorists are about to enter in to a very rough period of time. Not a good day to be an Islamo-facist.

I’ve read a couple comments here and there that while this is a fantastic morale booster for the US and in Iraq, that it really won’t accomplish anything.

I suppose that if a person believes that the constant negativity in the press (the “unwinnable quagmire”) doesn’t do any harm, then a victory and the attendant morale boosting celebrations don’t do anything either.

now, put him out and let nature – and the state of decomposition – take over. let his body swell up, turn black, and become a home to a mighty host of fly larvae (i.e. maggots). it will stink bad. throw some lime on it to kill the smell and let it continue to deteriorate until its a liquified mess that no one can come within twenty feet of.

Ref: the 500 lb bombs (most likely GBU-22). Two of course is good insurance, but the fuzing is also important. You probably want contact zero delay so the bomb is exploding just as it is coming through the roof. Have you seen the video? Notice the cross shape? That’s because even explosions take the path of least resistance, the cross representing the corners of the house. The debris is scattered somewhat less in the directions of the main walls of the building. Me? I’d go contact on the first, and about 10′ elevation on the second for maximum effect, but IMHO the second bomb was just to raise the PK and likely had identical fuzing, since there is always a chance of a bomb or fuze failure.

The I.Q. of the munitions mattered much less than the I.Q. of the locals in sizing up their future with Zarqawi and his friends compared with all the stupid blunders and sins of the mean old Chimp and his friends.

It is almost inconceivable that we could have pinpointed him for this sort of strike without specific and absolutely up-to-the-minute streams of reports provided by locals.

There is much comfort in seeing that all the bleating of the Western Alleged News Media were insufficient to convince them they’re better off with bin Laden and Zarqawi than with the U.S. military.

Seeing as how the 500-pounder is the smallest bomb that will take an LGB unit, the only possible line I can think the pilot of the F-16 was thinking as he pickeled musta been,
“Say hello to my leeeeeetle friend”. Hehe.

Two things are good about this strike and the follow up: 1.Having survived the WW II I know that a 500# bomb puts fear of God into people. And when they don’t know whether they are taargeted any given moment, that makes them edgy.
2. We held our raids until we hit the target. That makes everybody in the grouop nervous as well. Not only did we hit the boss, but we knew where many others were while they did not suspect that we knew.
One of the rules of war is that if you cannot kill the enemy, make them nervous.

The 17 raids were perhaps not undertaken before this for fear we’d tip our hand to Zarqawi.

Almost certainly, yep. Most likely they were sites that were known to be used by the bad guys, but the people watching were passing on the small fry in hopes of nailing one of the big fish.

Once Z-man was dead, there was no point in allowing them to exist any more, so they were rolled up.

All in all, that’s a fairly competent operation. The question in my mind is this- are the reports that Z-man was ratted out by someone inside his organization accurate, or disinformation to make ‘em even more paranoid?